Her husband tried to kill her three times. Three years later, he's still taking her to court.

Staci Jones' husband tried three times to kill her. New state law seeks to protect domestic violence victims against "stalking" lawsuits.
Memphis Commercial Appeal

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June 28, 2018 - Staci Jones' husband tried three times to kill her and three years after his sentencing, he's still taking her to court. A new law aims to ensure that's not the case. The law, which took takes effect Sunday, seeks to stop "abusive civil action" lawsuits being filed against victims of domestic violence.(Photo11: Brad Vest/The Commercial Appeal)Buy Photo

Fred Auston Wortman III, a former Collierville lawyer, was three years into a 30-year prison sentence. He and Jones divorced last year.

"I guess I thought once I was divorced, I was never going to walk into the court again," Jones said. "And now, I think in my head, 'gosh, is this going to go on until he gets out?'"

A new law aims to ensure that's not the case.

The law, which took effect Sunday, seeks to stop "abusive civil action" lawsuits filed against victims of domestic violence.

Jones' case was the impetus for the law.

Three years after his sentencing, Wortman is representing himself and still forcing his ex-wife back into court. So far this year, she's appeared about five times. Her lawyer and her parents have attended additional hearings on her behalf.

On one occasion, Wortman asked a judge to require his children to visit him in prison during an event for fathers. The most recent time, despite having severed his custodial parental rights, he filed a motion to access information about his children, including their report cards, attendance records, sporting events and any medical visits.

"If he was sorry for what he had done, he would just stop and let us live our lives," she said. "But he hasn’t."

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June 28, 2018 - Staci Jones' husband tried three times to kill her and three years after his sentencing, he's still taking her to court. A new law aims to ensure that's not the case. The law, which took takes effect Sunday, seeks to stop "abusive civil action" lawsuits being filed against victims of domestic violence.(Photo11: Brad Vest/The Commercial Appeal)

Stopping the harassment

Gov. Bill Haslam signed the measure into law in May. It seeks to protect victims of domestic violence against "frivolous" lawsuits filed by former spouses, former romantic partners and family members.

"Domestic violence is a serious problem in Tennessee that must be addressed," Kelsey said in a statement, noting the new law would stop a victim from having to testify in a hearing "against a perpetrator with whom they may have a close relationship."

"This can be a very difficult thing for these victims to do," he said.

Kelsey said the law also amends bond conditions to require the courts to impose a 12-hour holding period, notification to the victim and a no-contact order as a condition for making bail.

The law also gives a judge power to stop someone from filing additional harrasing lawsuits against their victims for at least four years but no more than six years.

"It gives judges the discretion to make those no-contact orders part of the conditions for release on bond," Kelsey said. "This new law helps protect domestic violence victims from harm and hopefully saves many lives. I am pleased that our General Assembly supported its passage and enactment."

'Desperately needed'

The law comes on the heels of a recent study released by the non-profit Washington-D.C.-based Violence Policy Center.

The annual study once again shows that Tennessee ranked fourth among states with the highest rates of women killed by men. Tennessee has placed among the top 10 states in the Violence Policy Center's study for the past eight years.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation reported that of the 77,846 domestic violence cases in 2017, a little more than 70 percent of the victims were women, according to a story in the Tennessean on June 26.

Deborah Clubb, executive director of the Memphis Area Women's Council, was one of the many advocates for victims of domestic violence to praise the new law .

"I think it is desparately needed," Clubb said. "I've known women who have had to fly back and forth from California and other parts of the country after they've fled and these guys will keep on demanding this and that."

Clubb added that the lawsuits characterized by advocates as "stalking by way of the courts" is an ongoing abusive tactic against the victims.

"It does cause tremendous calamities for women who are trying to rebuild after these violent relationships, and this law is good news and again desperately needed," Clubb said.

Two hit men and a tube of poisoned toothpaste

Staci Jones was cleaning up from a birthday party for one of her children in February 2015 when police officers arrived to tell her that her husband researched ways to kill her.

His law firm, which used to have his name on the door, notified authorities after finding searches like hiring a hit man using Bitcoin on an office computer.

When Collierville police told her he'd researched poisons, she had a revelation. Weeks earlier, she told them, a tube of toothpaste made her sick. While police were investigating, TBI began tracking Wortman. In June, authorities set up a sting operation when he tried to hire a hit man at a Fayette County gas station.

He was indicted in Shelby County on attempted murder for the toothpaste, which tested positive for a plant-based poison not available in the U.S.

While in jail in Fayette County, he attempted a second time to hire another hit man, promising payment in the form of his championship ring from his time on the University of Tennessee football team from 1998.

Jones has changed her name and the names of her three children, who are 9, 11 and 12 — not an attempt to go into hiding, she said, but rather to give her children a fresh start with names that won't trigger Google results about their father.

She moved out from the home she shared with Wortman, who in his first attempt to hire a hit man, hid supplies for him in a drainage ditch behind their house.

"For the past three years I haven't been able to open my back door without thinking about that hit man back there," she said.

Wortman's sentence is for 30 years, but he's eligible for parole after 10 years. Jones said she's afraid that will come sooner, as he's been rewarded for good behavior in prison.

He joins every group in prison he can, she said, and has a job — in the law library. That's left him with both time and resources to come after her.

Jones is now a full-time teacher. She talks to her children about their father — whom they now refer to as Fred instead of Dad — as much or as little as they want.

"We just keep going on," she said. "I don’t know what the future is as long as my kids are my top priority. I just want to keep them safe and protect them."

Reach Jennifer Pignolet at jennifer.pignolet@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @JenPignolet.